Afterworld Journey
by Diable Oni Giri
Summary: Taking place after "The Last Chapter", the Strawhats awaken in the strange After-World moments following their public execution, left to decide if they will rejoin the crew or stay with the loved ones they have reunited with.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This fic will contain **SPOILERS** for the latest chapters of the manga, so ye be warned now! Also, this takes place after my short-story **"The Last Chapter"**. Parts may not make sense without having read it first.

* * *

_"THE GREAT AGE OF DREAMS WILL NEVER END!"_

The words rang in his ears. His chest was on fire...couldn't breathe, couldn't see...

"Luffy?"

Then...it stopped, almost as suddenly as it had come. He felt lighter, somehow, as if he had been under a heavy weight that was gone now.

"It's time to wake now, Luffy."

For some reason it was a great effort to open his eyes, lids slowly parting before he blinked a few times. There was nothing to see, though, but a warm whiteness above him...or what he assumed was above him as he imagined himself to be laying down. This certainly wasn't where he had just left from...not Loguetown on a wooden platform with his nakama.

_'My nakama!'_

He sat bolt upright, looking around franticly. Where were his nakama? But around him was more whiteness...and an odd-looking woman who sat before him with crossed legs and a warm smile.

"Ah, there we are, hello Luffy!" she spoke, clapping her hands together lightly. "I was wondering how long you were gonna lay there."

Luffy blinked at her, for the moment distracted from his worries. She wasn't quite as strange as some of the people he had met in his journey, but her hair was both red and gold at the same time...he wasn't sure how that was possible, but it shifted between the two. Lightly tanned skin, a splattering of freckles over her cheeks and nose, and atop her head was a pearly extended a hand toward him eagerly.

"My name is Nalim," she explained. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

He shook her hand with a somewhat confused expression as his gaze wandered to the seemingly endless white all around them.

"This is a weird place..." he concluded, looking to the woman again.

"It always seems so when you first arrive," Nalim giggled. "But it will clear up when you're ready."

"Ready?" Luffy blinked dumbly.

Nalim gave him back his hand with a nod.

"Yes, for you see...this is the Afterworld. Everyone goes through similar things when they arrive. For example, when you first wake, a special Soul-Guide is assigned to you to aid in your transition from the Living to here."

_'The...Afterworld.'_

"So I did die, then, huh?"

"Mmhm, that's right. And I am your Soul-Guide."

"What about...where are my nakama? My crew?"

She chuckled, shaking her head. "Specificly, I cannot say for sure, but they are here in the After as well. Do not worry, for you will see them again. But first we need to get you settled in. The first step is to take you back to where your soul's great journey began...there are some others who want to see you."

Luffy scratched his head, still trying to really grasp the situation. Either this was a dream-a very complicated and weird dream-or...

"It is no dream, I promise." she assured him with a knowing smile.

A few moments would pass, the pirate captain letting the situation wash over him. It wasn't some vivid nightmare, the execution...he was dead, as was the rest of his crew. His heart ached to see them, so he would do whatever it took to get to them...in this case, it meant listening to this strange woman with three orange-red-gold eyes.

_'Three...eyes?'_

"Uuuwhooaaaah! Why do you have three eyes?" it seemed that it took Luffy that long to notice that Nalim, in fact, had a third eye in the center of her forehead, flipped vertically. She laughed bemusedly, standing and offered her hand to him.

"It is a trait of my kind, the Soul-Guides," she explained, the whiteness around them beginning to fade away as if it were fog when the bewildered pirate took her hand.

"Sugeeeeeeeeee~!" his eyes seemed to light up with stars.

As if it were being painted in on a blank canvas, a beach and the wide blue ocean appeared, joined by a inward rush of smells and sounds and warm sunlight that stole his breath for a moment. He could feel the nothingness become sand beneath his feet, hear the lapping waves, the cry of a seagull, feel the warm rays on his skin and the wind in his hair. It was all at once very familiar...

"This is..." he breathed, hardly able to believe it. He whirled around to gaze into the distance and he grinned infectiously. "This is the beach right by Windmill village! Dawn Island!"

"That's right," Nalim affirmed with a smile. "You see, the After is much like a mirror, able to take people's memories and dreams and fashion them into existence. So, it is both like and completely unlike the Living-world."

Luffy seemed eager to go explore the village before turning back to Nalim with a confused expression.

"You said there were people who wanted to see me before I can go to my nakama?"

"Mm, and the first should be there," Nalim pointed down the shoreline toward the docks. "You recall...that is where your journey began."

"Yeah! When I turned 17, that's where I set sail from!" he eagerly took off down the beach to get to it. Nalim watched him go with a light chuckle before fading away.

* * *

Luffy clambered his way up onto the dock, brushing his shorts off before giving his surroundings a good looking-over. It certainly was nostalgic and he smiled at all his fond memories growing up in this kingdom...running through the dangerous forests around Mount Colbo and fighting against all the beasts, causing chaos in the streets of Edge Town and stealing meals, Paty's Bar...

His brothers...

_'It was a great time, just me, Ace, and...'_

"About time you showed up, I was about to leave without you."

Luffy blinked, turning his gaze down the dock toward the sea. A figure stood there between two docked ships he swore one looked very familiar. Certainly, the one to the right was the tiny rowboat he had set sail on, but the other was a bit larger and even had a sail and pirate flag.

The man looked Luffy over with a wide grin-a single tooth missing-and crossed his arms over his bare chest. The green cravat around his neck fluttered in the breeze as he finally met the pirate king's eyes. Luffy frowned...this guy, like the boat, was familiar too. But where had he met this man before? It took a moment, but he paused as the top hat atop the stranger's head drew his attention. It was odd that a little gold halo floated over it, but beside that, he recognized it: a bit beat-up, black, and wrapped around it was a pair of gold-framed goggles. Luffy's eyes went wide in disbelief and filled with tears, causing the other to grin even more.

"S-Sabo?"

Sabo laughed heartily as his little brother gaped at him, eyes wide as saucers.

"Yep, it's me!" his green eye bright. "But I bet it took a second to recognize me, the last time I saw you I was ten and you were just a little seven-year-old brat!"

Luffy blinked a few times before bursting into bright laughter, launching himself at Sabo and hugged him so tight that if they were in the land of the living, he may have broken some bones.

"You look older!" he said in an amazed tone, backing up to look at him again with tears streaming down his cheeks. It was true; beside his trademark looks, Sabo's body was that of a 20-something.

"Well of course I do, you cry-baby!" Sabo snorted with a good-humored roll of his eyes. "Here in the After, you can look like whatever you want, so why would I still want to look like a little ten-year-old?"

It made sense enough for Luffy, so he nodded, still grinning so hard it was making his cheeks ache while he sniffed and wiped his tears away.

"Hey! Does everyone here have one of those?" he poined to the halo over Sabo's hat. "They're so cool, I want one too!"

"Oi, you already have one, you idiot!" the other snickered. "Didn't you notice?"

"Sugeeeee~!" he gaped at his reflection while leaning out over the dock precariously before windmilling his arms and stumbling back a few steps. "Agh! I almost fell in!"

"Heh, well that's the thing, Luffy! You can't drown here in the After, you're already dead!"

Luffy blinked, gaping at his brother again. He hadn't really had a chance to think much about it, but that made sense too...so he could swim again? But what about..? He leaned his shoulder back, hand on his upper arm as he wound up before throwing his fist forward, letting out a happy guffaw as it stretched far out past the dock and almost knocked Sabo's hat off.

"I'm still rubber!" he cheered.

"Watch the hat!" Sabo growled, adjusting it with a smirk. "And it's like I said, you can be whatever you want here, devil's fruit powers included!"

"Wahoo!" Luffy's arm snapped back and he grinned. "This is great! So you've been here ever since you were ten, huh?"

"Yep, and I got to have my own adventures and keep an eye on my brothers, too."

"You were watching us?" a pang of guilt tugged at Luffy's heart, realizing that while he had been out realizing his dream, Sabo had been in the After. But the other only smiled more and nodded.

"It was great. I was jealous at first, yeah, but then I decided that I would be the first one to sail -this- ocean!" he gestured to the calm blue beyond the dock. "The After-Sea is even greater than I could have imagined because it's made up of the memories and dreams of everyone who's ever lived! But while I was, I always made sure I kept watch over what my brothers were up to."

"Uwhoaaaa! I can't wait to see it, too!" he cheered, the pang forgotten as quickly as it had come. "Can I?"

"Yeah! But first, you're going to need your Key."

"My Key?"

Sabo nodded, his smile taking on a more serious note as he took off his hat, looking it over reverently. "Your Key, is an object that represents your time in the living world and isn't something that you have with you when you first get here. When you get it, you are able to travel freely beyond the specific locations of your past. Each Key is unique..this is mine."

"My hat!" Luffy gasped, franticly reaching around and patting for it on his back, then the top of his head, fingers finding only the fabric of his red vest and strands of messy black hair. "Where's my hat?"

"I bet that's your Key," the bemused Sabo concluded. "In which case, you'll get it from someone special here."

"Is that how it works?"

"Mmhm, at least that's what your Soul-Guide told me when I came to meet you. You see, if in your lifetime you had people who were very special to you, they come to greet your soul when you first arrive in the After," Sabo put his hat back on, his smile somewhat sad. "My Soul-Guide was the one who gave me my Key because my important people were still alive."

Luffy nodded a bit, putting his hand on his older brother's shoulder and gave a slight squeeze. To see him again filled the pirate king's heart to almost bursting.

"Well!" the older subtly brushed at his nose with a finger to hide the tears in his eyes. "No sense sitting around here, huh? You've got someone else to meet with before you get your Key!"

"Right!" Luffy cheered, instinctively hopping down off the dock and into the tiny rowboat. Sabo laughed at him and climbed aboard his own boat, the fishing boat he had stolen when he had fatefully set out from Goa City.

"You took _that_ out to sea when you left to be a pirate?" the elder mocked with a raised brow.

"Hey! It was a good boat!" Luffy huffed, red-faced.

"Until you got it stuck in a whirlpool!" Sabo laughed.

The pair set off, laughing loudly with their fists in the air, exchanging idle chatter as Dawn Island faded into the distance behind them, the rest of the After-Sea before them.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: **MOAR SPOILERS AHEAD**! Using content from the latest manga chapters, so shoo if you don't want me ruining them with my crap-fic!

* * *

"How are things going, gentleman?"

There was a unified cry of surprise and Luffy nearly capsized his little rowboat when Nalim reappeared, floating between his and Sabo's boat while sitting on a small cloud. She laughed with an apologetic smile to the younger of the two, helping to steady its swaying with a hand.

"They're going great!" he chirped, grinning wide. "You didn't tell me I'd get to see Sabo, though!"

"But that would have ruined the surprise, wouldn't it?"

"That's true, yeah...well, we've been catching up and he was telling me about the After-Sea!"

Sabo crossed his arms on the rim of his boat, resting his chin on them with a chuckle.

"He won't let me talk about anything else -but- what this world's got to offer."

The Soul-Guide clapped her hands softly in her sign of enjoyment, looking from one boy to the other.

"I am so happy you two are getting on so well, I always enjoy reuniting families...best part of my job! But, if you'll forgive me, you don't look much alike for being brothers."

They exchanged a look with one another before snickering, Nalim raising her brows.

"There's more to family than just blood," Sabo began.

"Yeah! We shared sake, so we're brothers!" Luffy concluded, as if the statement was the only logical explanation.

She held her hands up with a little shrug, giggling.

"Ah, well brothers are brothers, then! I just came back from tending to some other souls, but I wanted to be certain you were getting along fine. Have you any questions?"

"Nope!"

"Very well, Luffy! I will depart again for now...in the meantime, you ought to watch where you're going."

"Watch where I'm-?" he parroted as she vanished again, the question dying in his throat and he blurted a cry of shock as in her wake he noticed that they were just about to crash their boats into the face of a giant white whale. "WAAAAGHHHHH!"

"Where the hell did -that- come from?" Sabo yelled, throwing the rudder to get his boat to barely miss the collision.

Luffy in his rowboat, however, was not so lucky and hit it head-on with a crunching sound of wood hitting wood. He blinked in surprise before the shock threw him into the water, flailing for a few seconds before realizing he -wasn't- sinking helplessly into the depths and simply tread water, blinking up at the whale.

"Oi! Luffy!" Sabo called from a distance, out of sight on the other side of the obstruction. "It's a ship!"

A whale-ship? Hadn't he seen one just like this once? Realization struck at the same moment as the anchor dropping into the calm waves with a sizable splash and his heart skipped a beat before pounding in his chest. This was...

"It's the Moby Dick, I think!" concluded his brother, who also dropped his anchor.

The pirate king almost couldn't breathe, wide gaze scanning upward to the railing of the imposing ship. This was the ship that had belonged to the late Whitebeard...he was amazed to see that the ship's figurehead even had its own large halo. Luffy was shaken from his thoughts as a rope ladder was dropped down to him, imagining that another was also offered to Sabo as he climbed up.

_'Why are my hands shaking?'_ he wondered, climbing somewhat slowly.

As he hopped up onto the deck, he noticed Sabo standing off to his left, arms crossed over his chest and grinning wide. He looked over and winked at Luffy.

"You didn't think I was gonna be the only brother to come greet you, did you?"

"Yeah, but only fair that the first son get to see him first, Sabo. Or am_ I_ the first son? Did we ever figure that out?"

Time seemed to slow down as Luffy turned to address the new voice. As cool and collected as ever, there stood the 2nd Division Commander leaning against the mast with a smug grin. He lifted a hand to tip his hat up, eyes bright and mirthful, full of their classic mischief as he regarded the frozen pirate before him.

"Nah, don't think we did, officially. We could fight for it if you want, eh, Ace?"

Ace chuckled, leaning away from the mast with hands on his hips. Beside the halo hovering over his hat, nothing seemed off about the young man...he was just how Luffy remembered him. The pirate king was shaking, head lowering as tears began to well in his eyes...without his hat, however, the usual shade to hide this was absent; Ace regarded him a moment before laughing heartily.

"Oh come on, you cry-baby! I haven't seen you in a few years now and all you're gonna do is stand there and bawl?"

Luffy's head snapped up and he was biting his lower lip furiously as tears poured down his cheeks, nose already dripping and his hands were clenched. Ace made a mock-disgusted face at the sight, if only to hide the fact that his own eyes were getting a bit damp...in the blink of an eye, he was nearly knocked to the deck when his younger brother latched onto him completely in a crushing embrace, using arms and legs alike while sobbing loudly in joy.

"!"

"Agh! Cut that out!" the elder grimaced, but fiercely wrapped his arms around Luffy. "You're gonna make me go def!"

"You can't go def, idiot, we're in the After," Sabo corrected.

"Don't tell him that or he's gonna keep doing it!" Ace shot back with a glare. All the same, he held his brother tight as he cried his heart out in joy, hiding his face against Luffy's neck as a few tears rolled down his be-freckled cheeks.

"What's this, then?" a gruff voice inquired from just behind the embracing siblings.

"Oh, seems Luffy just arrived here in the After," Sabo replied with a grin, tipping his hat in respect to the large man who cast a shadow over Ace and Luffy.

"Ah, Strawhat..." Whitebeard rumbled, a grin tugging at his lips. "I should have guessed by all the noise. How did you two get on my ship?"

"You ran us over, you crazy old man!" a teary-eyed pirate king snapped, glaring up over Ace's shoulder. "You sank my boat!"

Whitebeard blinked before bursting out with a bark of laughter, grinning all the more.

"Well, -I- got out of the way," Sabo sighted, sitting on a nearby crate as Ace carefully detached Luffy from around his torso.

Luffy could barely stand, still looking at Ace in near disbelief and tears seems to flow endlessly as the memories of the War, of Ace's demise flashed painfully in the young man's mind. Ace rubbed at his face before giving his brother a good old punch upside the head.

"Alright already, enough of that! It's embarrassing!"

"Owwwww!" Luffy moaned, rubbing at the forming lump with a sniff.

Whitebeard put a hand on Ace's shoulder, looking down at the young pirate.

"So, Strawhat...I hear that you became the Pirate King."

"Mm." he nodded, his expression sobering a bit.

A quiet fell over the small group, no words being exchanged as they regarded on another. It was a few moments before Whitebeard gave a nod of approval before turning to go, leaving the brothers to their reunion.

"Y'know, it was pretty crazy..." Ace mused as he watched the older man go. "I hadn't been here more than a few minutes before my Guide called me to greet pops. But time moves a bit different here...I met with my mom and blood-father at length before he got here."

Luffy blinked before gasping, eyes wide.

"You...you met Gol D Roger?"

"Of course I did, jeeze," he rolled his eyes, pushing his hat back off his head so it resting on his bare back, still proudly bearing the Jolly Roger of his adoptive father. "He was with my mom."

"Sugeeeeee! Can I meet him too?" Luffy was practically bouncing with excitement.

"Yeah, yeah, but you've got something more important to deal with first," he said with a smirk, pulling something from his bag before stepping close and smashed it on top of Luffy's head.

He would have flailed in protest if not for the tell-tale crinkle of woven straw that made his heart swell again and he looked up, catching a glimpse of the brim of...

"My hat! You had it?"

Ace smirked and gave his little brother a pat.

"Heh, it just fell out of the sky and into my lap when I was trying to get a good nap in. Better you take it and get out of my hair than me hanging on to it and have to deal with you being noisy and annoying."

Hands lifted to test the hat out with rough fingers, a slight smile creeping across his face.

"Well, actually, unless you want to pitch him overboard in a barrel, Luffy is going to need passage on this ship to get to the next island."

The brother trio looked up and found that the speaker was none other than Nalim, standing gracefully on the railing.

"Aw, you mean I'm stuck with him?" Ace protested, shooting his younger brother a grin.

"For now," she giggled, gesturing to the sea. "I believe his destination, and where you part ways for now, is Shells Town."

'Shells Town..?'

"Hey, isn't that where-?" Luffy began, but Nalim was already gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: **SPOILERS AHEAD**! Using content from the latest manga chapters, so shoo if you don't want me ruining them with my crap-fic!

* * *

"See ya on the other side, marimo..."

It took some doing, but the swordsman slowly dragged his eye open...only to find there was nothing to see. Whiteness greeted him from above and he could see it in the corner of his vision as well. How irritating...he'd been expecting someone to be there waiting for him. Stupid.

"Hey! You're awake now!"

Zoro blinked, rolling his head the other way so he could spot the figure that was sitting in his blind spot to the left. For a fleeting moment, he had hoped to find the blonde...for some reason. Anyone familiar would have been a comfort to his confusion, but the youth beside him was unknown.

"Yeah." he grumbled, sitting up.

The boy smiled, about at tall as Zoro was in his current position and with a mess of olive-colored curls atop his head. The swordsman regarded him a long moment-noting the odd halo-before giving the whiteness another looking-over.

"Is this Heaven?" he asked, lazily addressing the boy.

"That's a name for it, yes, but we tend to refer to it as the After."

"Huh. You got a name?"

"Mmhm!" the boy extended a hand formally toward Zoro. "It's Treyas! I'm your Soul-Guide!"

Not really sure what that entailed, he shook the boy's hand anyway. In truth, he was still reeling a bit from everything...fresh memories of the deaths of his nakama weighed heavily on his mind, flickering like ghosts just behind his eyelids. Seeming to sense this, Treyas sobered a bit.

"Don't worry, Roronoa Zoro, they're here too."

"Can I see them?" he regarded Treyas sharply. He wasn't fond of the concept of being separated from his crew.

"Mm, well first, there's someone that wants to talk to you...they'll give you a special Key that will let you travel freely around the After. That's how it works. Once you have it, you can go find them."

"Key, huh...sounds simple enough" he nodded, standing up, a hand resting on the hilts of his katana casually. It was nice to feel their familiar worn leather: Shuusui, Kitetsu, and-

His eye widened and he looked down frantically. It wasn't there...he spun around, scanning the nothingness-ground for any sign of the third-and most important-of his katana, Wadō. Rounding on the boy, he grabbed him from the front of the shirt and lifted him to eye-level.

"Where is my other sword?" he all but demanded in a low, deadly tone.

"I-if it isn't here, then it's gotta be your Key!" Treyas tugged at Zoro's hand, trying to free himself. "Put me down and I'll help you get it back!"

Reluctantly, he released his grip with an agitated sigh. As he did, Treyas remained floating in mid-air while the world seemed to fade into view. Zoro marveled at the oddness, as if the white he'd awoken to had been a really really thick fog the whole time...but not. He could feel the grass forming under his feet and with the inward flow of sights, there were also smells and sound. He hadn't realized how quiet the whiteness was and now his ears were ringing.

When things settled into place, he couldn't help gaping. He knew where he was...how could he not?

"Hey, wait a second, this is-?" he turned to question the boy, but was surprised to find him gone.

Left alone in familiar territory, Zoro looked up at the full moon, the warm summer-like night wrapping around his senses. He smiled, looking down the road he knew would eventually lead him to the dojo that had started it all. Hell, it had been a night much like this when he'd lost his last fight against-

If not for sharpened reflexes, the silver arc of a blade going for his throat may have hit its mark. He leaped back with a wide eye, having been so lost in thought that he hadn't seen his attacker charge him. He drew his katana, gritting his teeth a bit for the absence of the third but no wasn't the time to worry about it...

"Who the hell tries to kill people in the Afterworld?" he sputtered, glaring at the figure.

"Don't let your guard down," was the reply he received, instantly having to block another swing of the assailant's blade. "Just because you can't die, doesn't mean you can't be defeated!"

Growling, he pushed with his own swords, eye adjusting to the dark in an attempt to at least identify who it was; from the voice, he could tell they were female...whoever she was, she was strong enough with just the one katana to contend against his two. Just one... He gaped, knowing the blade the longer he stared at its edge tangled with the two he held. It was Wadō. Zoro's wide-eyed gaze sought out the woman even more desperately, demanding to know who she was and why she had his sword.

A vague form...shortish hair of a dark color...thin, but not too much...something very familiar...hauntingly familiar about this woman. It clicked all at once and he blinked in confusion.

"Aren't you that Marine woman?" he muttered, narrowing his eye.

"Wrong!" he felt Wadō strike heavily against his crossed blades again and the woman leaned in closer, letting him get a good look in the moonlight. "Try again!"

Zoro wracked his brain...who -else- looked like Toshigi? No...no, that wasn't it. It wasn't who else looked like the Marine, it was who -she- looked like...the reason she had always unsettled him. Her looks, her fighting stance...it was just like-

"Kuina?"

The woman wielding Wadō grinned.

"Bingo."


	4. Chapter X An Author's Note

Dear Readers,

I do not know that any of you may get this, as I have let this poor story fall off the side for almost a year now. For this I apologize, but I have gone through a lot these past months and am just now finding the time and drive to work on my writings again. Thus I will be reworking this story and republishing it. I hope that you will read the new version and follow along as it updates.

Thank you for your time and readership, it is precious to me.

Signed,

Diable Oni Giri


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